BOURDAIS CHARGES TO POLE IN ASSEN CHAMP CAR GRAND PRIX
Three-time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais
moved one point closer to clinching a record breaking fourth
consecutive crown after clinching pole position today in Assen
for tomorrow's Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland presented
by Audi, Gant, Hertz, Pioneer and Jumbo.
Bourdais now has a 54 point lead over Dutch local hero Robert
Doornbos. If the Frenchman wins again tomorrow and takes a
European clean-sweep, Doornbos will have to finish sixth or
better to ensure the title chase continues to the next round
of the series in Australia on October 21.
Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
earned his sixth pole position of the season and the 31st
of his career. He lapped the 4.55km circuit in a track record
time of 1 minute 18.765 seconds (129.347 mph) after only being
able to post the sixth best time in Saturday morning’s
practice session.
Nearly every driver improved their time from the morning
session but none as much as Bourdais, as he bettered his morning
lap by nearly two seconds. The French driver will be joined
on the front row by Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone),
who earned his starting spot during Friday’s rain soaked
qualifying. This marks the third time this season the two
have shared the front row.
Four rookies will fill the next two rows on the starting
grid with the PKV Racing duo of Tristan Gommendy (#22 Pay
By Touch-MegaSpirea Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) and Neel Jani
(#21 Red Bull-Gulfstream Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) starting
third and fourth respectively. Gommendy seems to favour the
natural terrain road courses, having earned the pole position
earlier this season at Mont-Tremblant.
Making up the third row are 2006 Champ Car Atlantic rivals,
Simon Pagenaud (#15 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
and Graham Rahal (#2 Medi|Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone).
While Rahal has been on the podium after the last two events
and has been there for times this season, Pagenaud is still
looking for his first top three finish.
Belgian driver Jan Heylen (#34 Grafiprint Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
posted his best qualifying effort of the season, placing his
Conquest Racing machine seventh on the grid. Heylen will start
alongside Australian driver Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards
Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) who lines up eighth.
QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE QUALIFIERS
Sebastien Bourdais: "To be honest I
didn't think we were going to be P1. In the first 15 minutes,
it felt like it, but then in the first run we just really
struggled and we had not changed much on the McDonald’s
car. So I didn't know what really happened. On the second
and third run, when we went out with the Red Bridgestone alternate
tyres, it was fantastic; the car came alive and I had a great
time. Like I said this place is fantastic. It's really fast
and a lot of fun when the car is working."
Justin Wilson: “I’m very disappointed
with our lack of pace today. We just couldn’t quite
work it out in qualifying and had a few problems. A rear tyre
delaminated during our second stint, but I’m not sure
if that was all of our problem or not. We’re fortunate
that we got the front row slot from yesterday and now we’ve
got to concentrate on making a good race car.”
Tristan Gommendy: “I think the Pay
By Touch MegaSpirea PKV Racing team had a good qualification.
We came here without a lot of pressure on us because the season
is almost over. But, we worked hard and we came up with quite
a good setup. Dry track, wet track it did not make a difference.
We were quick. We did some good fine tuning between the morning
practice and this afternoon. My engineer, Yves Touron, did
a good job, because the car was exactly how it was suppose
to be."
DOORNBOS FORCED TO FIGHT FROM MID PACK TOMORROW
Local hero Robert Doornbos will start from position nine in
tomorrow's Bavaria Beer Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland -
a disappointing start for the man who ran at the front of
the pack in last week's race in Belgium.
Doornbos ran second in the opening laps, then faded in the
Zolder event but now has his sights set on reversing the trend
at Assen - moving forward from a poor qualifying start.
"In Zolder, we were second early in the race and finished
the race seventh - so to start now from ninth, maybe it's
good fortune," Doornbos said.
"It’s shocking that we couldn't get a good car
in qualifying basically. It's not like we have one problem
to address. It just isn’t a very fast car.
"But it happened before this year that we struggled
in qualifying but that the car was really fast in the race.
The races are also very long and we know from the past in
Champ Car, a lot can happen. But it will be tight into turn
one and we just need to make the best of it."
Final Qualifying
Pos - Driver - Country - Time
1 Sebastien Bourdais France 1:18.765
2 Justin Wilson England 1:19.710
3 Tristan Gommendy France 1:19.025
4 Neel Jani Switzerland 1:19.302
5 Simon Pagenaud France 1:19.353
6 Graham Rahal USA 1:19.373
7 Jan Heylen Belgium 1:19.412
8 Will Power Australia 1:19.415
9 Robert Doornbos Netherlands 1:19.612
10 Dan Clarke England 1:19.718
11 Bruno Junqueira Brazil 1:19.813
12 Alex Tagliani Canada 1:19.934
13 Oriol Servia Spain 1:20.033
14 Katherine Legge England 1:20.548
15 Ryan Dalziel Scotland 1:20.744
16 Alex Figge USA 1:21.039
17 Paul Tracy Canada 1:22.936
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